Women in Moldova could be represented in Government in the Proportion of 40 percent

Currently, women are represented in the Parliament in the proportion of 20%, while 52% of the country’s population are women. The issue of women’s access to politics was discussed at the Press Club meeting titled “Women in politics – why we’ve made no progress in 10 years.” The event took place on Tuesday, March 29, and it was organized by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) and the UN Program “Women in Politics.”

“For the second reading of the draft law on gender equality, the parliamentary commission for human rights accepted the 40% representation share of women in governing bodies,” said the Press Club guest, Vice-President of Parliament Liliana Palihovici. She referred to the minimum share of women that needs to be complied with in making up lists of candidates for the Parliament and during creation of the Government and the Parliament’s Permanent Bureau.

“I think all parliamentary parties have already accepted to vote for the draft law, because at the previous meeting of the Parliament’s Permanent Bureau, when it was proposed to introduce this draft into the agenda of one of the upcoming meetings, all parties supported this initiative,” Palihovici added.

Asya Varbanova, senior advisor of the UN Program “Women in Politics,” also finds it important to adopt this law, one of the reasons being that ensuring gender equality is a commitment under the Moldova-EU Association Agreement. Referring to international experience, she mentioned that in the past 20 years the number of women in the legislative bodies of European countries has grown from 11% to 22%.

“Statistics prove that the countries that implemented shares of representation of women in politics have a better quality of government and a lower level of corruption. Moreover, women make better financial decisions, because they take into consideration the problems of all categories of population and focus on decisions concerning education or health,” Asya Varbanova said.

The idea was supported by Alexei Buzu, Executive Director of the “Partnership for Development” Center. According to him, women in Moldova are still being treated differently. For example, they are even affected by salary policies; on average, he says, a woman loses 7,620 lei per year because of salary inequality. According to Buzu, gender discrimination will be excluded by means of implementing representation shares: “The first step that needs to be done is to introduce shares, which would be an instrument for democratization of parties. However, it is also necessary to provide for harsh penalties for failure to comply with legislation.”

The draft law on ensuring gender equality was approved by the Parliament in the first reading in the summer of 2014, and for it to enter into force MPs need to approve it in the second reading, eventually in one of the upcoming weeks. Among other things, the draft law prohibits sexist advertising, provides for paternity leave and modification of the law on the media, according to which periodicals and news agencies will be obliged to use correct and non-discriminating language. In this context, experts mentioned the importance of media outlets in promoting non-discrimination.